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Media Coverage of Medical Journals: Do the Best Articles Make the News?

Author

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  • Senthil Selvaraj
  • Durga S Borkar
  • Vinay Prasad

Abstract

Background: News coverage of medical research is followed closely by many Americans and affects the practice of medicine and influence of scientific research. Prior work has examined the quality of media coverage, but no investigation has characterized the choice of stories covered in a controlled manner. We examined whether the media systematically covers stories of weaker study design. Methods: We compared study characteristics of 75 clinically-oriented journal articles that received coverage in the top five newspapers by circulation against 75 clinically-oriented journal articles that appeared in the top five medical journals by impact factor over a similar timespan. Subgroup analysis was performed to determine whether differences between investigations from both sources varied by study type (randomized controlled trial [RCT] or observational study). Results: Investigations receiving coverage from newspapers were less likely to be RCTs (17% vs. 35%, p = 0.016) and more likely to be observational studies (75% vs. 47%, p

Suggested Citation

  • Senthil Selvaraj & Durga S Borkar & Vinay Prasad, 2014. "Media Coverage of Medical Journals: Do the Best Articles Make the News?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-5, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0085355
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0085355
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. William Yuk Yeu Lai & Trevor Lane, 2009. "Characteristics of Medical Research News Reported on Front Pages of Newspapers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(7), pages 1-7, July.
    2. Amélie Yavchitz & Isabelle Boutron & Aida Bafeta & Ibrahim Marroun & Pierre Charles & Jean Mantz & Philippe Ravaud, 2012. "Misrepresentation of Randomized Controlled Trials in Press Releases and News Coverage: A Cohort Study," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-11, September.
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